Oakland Township minimart looks to bounce back after DEP restrictions
OAKLAND TWP — From the outside, Zanella Automotive and Mini Mart looks like a typical convenience store and gas station. Outside the brick building are a pair of Sunoco Gas pumps and a sign with a message welcoming customers to the modest establishment.
It’s not until one enters the minimart that it becomes apparent Zanella’s is not just another convenience store. Customers are greeted with the fresh aroma of freshly made pizza and display of fresh food, fruits, soups and desserts.
“I love the hot sausage,” said Jane Cravener, of Chicora, who has been coming to the minimart for 20 years. “Then, there’s the chicken and mashed potatoes with green beans. Everything is really just so good here.”
Cravener said the reason she’s been going the Zanella Automotive and Mini Mart, located on Oneida Valley Road in Butler, for so long is because “the people are friendly and the food is excellent.”
When the minimart was forced to stop selling hot food on Feb. 7, after an inspection from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture found the store was using an unapproved public water source, Cravener said she was not happy.
“It was devastating to me,” she said. “I’m a single person and coming here is a lot easier.”
Cravener was one of many regular customers who had to wait more than 10 weeks before the local minimart was allowed to once again sell hot food items. After the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection determined that the well the store was using did not meet the casing requirements, owner Jim Zanella had to have a new well installed at a cost of $32,000.
“They told me that originally it would be somewhere near $35,000,” Zanella said.
Since December 2019, owner Jim Zanella had been in a dispute with the Pennsylvania DEP about the store’s water source. From filing the proper paperwork to trying to navigate possible solutions during the COVID shutdown, Zanella said he’s relieved.
“It’s a great relief,” Zanella said. “It’s great to be back and the people seem glad that we’re back.”
The store, which was never cited for any sanitation reasons, was required to build a well with 50 feet of casing, instead of using the original well, which had only 40 feet of casing.
Well casing is a tube-shaped structure placed in the well to maintain the well opening. Along with grout, the casing keeps dirt and excess water out of the well.
“We didn’t have any problems with bacteria or anything like that,” said the business owner. “It’s just my casing wasn’t deep enough for them.”
During the installation of the new well, the minimart was open, just without the store’s signature home-cooked meals.
“We could just sell coffee, that’s it,” Zanella said.
Gloria Riding, of Oakland Township, is a longtime employee of the minimart. She said since the store’s been able to sell hot food again the customers have been coming back in droves.
“They’ve been just wonderful,” Riding said. “They’ve all patiently waited, and they are so glad when were able to come back open.”
Lunch-break regular Greg Young, of Concord Township, said he’s thrilled the store is back to selling his favorite hot pretzels.
“For a while there, we weren’t even doing lunch,” Young said. “We were driving all over the place and wasting time trying to find lunch.”
And while the customers are thrilled to have their convenience store back to full capacity, perhaps no one is more excited than the chef, George Schroth.
“I couldn’t even make soup,” Schroth said. “I had to use frozen entrees for a couple of months and then pretty soon they cut us off that altogether.”
Schroth who has spent his life as a chef and in catering, started working for his longtime friend, Zanella, after he retired nearly three years ago. Schroth’s home is located right next to the store, which allows him to spend three to four hours a day making and packaging fresh food and desserts.
Schroth said he has spent his life working around the kitchen and loves the fact that he’s able to bring his culinary craft to Butler.
“I’ve been doing this all my life,” Schroth said. “It’s what I love to do.”
Schroth said Zanella’s will soon be offering a modest catering service that will allow customers to preorder meals for special occasions such as picnics or graduations.
“I’m still figuring some stuff out,” Schroth said. “But it will be here real soon.”
